Screaming in the dark
by Kazino
Summary: You'll never be perfect. You'll never get her to be yours. Your friends are backstabbers, and you're loosing your touch. You're going to fail school, Derek Venturi. And you might as well fail at life too. Rated M for swears and angst.
1. Stepping in the dark

"Der-ek!" Those two syllables that paused in the middle when yelled, drove him crazy. He was always to blame for the simpliest things. When he was kidding, she was serious. When he was serious, Casey was kidding around. Girls were too complicated in his books.

"Yes, Casey?" Derek asked, sounding a bit confident like he always did. This time though, his voice cut in the middle of her name. Trying to cover it, he started again, "What do you want?" A storming Casey came through his room and stood at the end of his bed. Before she could say anything, Derek cut her off. "You knock first if it's important." He told her as he stayed in his bed.

"It is Derek." Casey told him loudly. "You put shaving cream in the toothpaste, again! For the second time this week." A laugh escaped him, a tiny one though.

"Is that all you want?" He asked. She crossed her arms and made a face.

"I'll get you back, Derek Venturi." Casey sighed heavily, making a loud yell after before stomping out of the room. Derek smiled. Her voice saying his last name was amazing. He couldn't describe how he felt. He would think of it as butterflies.. but girls only said that. Not Derek. But he couldn't wonder why the threat was so small. Did he finally bring her over the top? His heart raced. He didn't mean it as pranks.. it was how he told someone he-

"Derek." The name calling was getting annoying to this point. His dad entered the room and Derek put on his smile.

"Hey dad," Derek greeted as he sat up. "What're you doing in here?" He knew why. But sometimes it's good to play stupid in times like these. So was sucking up. "You know, dad, you knock.. there is a sign on the door and-" It didn't work, and he didn't finish.

"Your school phoned. They're concerned. If you don't pass three of your failing classes, then you're repeating. By the end of the month you have to work harder. Me and your mom-"

"Nora MacDonald." Derek cut off. It was his turn, he hated when people cutted him off. His dad raised an eyebrow and sat on the edge of the bed. Derek knew he was going to stay there until Derek agreed. "And dad, my marks are going to get higher. It will, I prommmise." His dad looked surprised but not enough to get him out of the room. Four months to pass. With 23, merely impossible.

"I mean it, now. Starting next week no t.v until your homework is done. You're working on the table in the kitchen. No friends are coming in the house, and you're not going out. Your phone in this room is going to be disconnected then too. Do I make myself clear?" His dad asked. Derek couldn't believe it.

"Yeah.." Derek whined and looked at the door, then back at him quickly. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

"It's a Monday, so no. You're going to school. It's only 6:30. You can't be late this time cause your mo-.. Nora will rush you." George got up and headed for the door. Derek sighed and watched the door close. Mocking George for a seconds lead to nothing as he got up slowely. He got changed before grabbing his mp3 and went down the hall, and down the stairs. The instant sound of talking surrounded him as he was on the last step.

"Breakfast?" Nora asked Derek when he rubbed his right eye. He shook his head and stopped rubbing. He hated her food but he didn't tell her. His dad told him to keep that sort of stuff to himself. 


	2. Whispers in the dark

"Derek!" Fuck. Was that the name of the day or something? Did he miss anything.. He was starting to think of changing his name. Walking down to his locker he stopped to put in the 3 numbers that were assigned to him. Opening it he brought out his books and sighed. Derek didn't feel like studying at all, and he had to find another way. His reputation was on the line at the moment with all of the going on. No new girl showed up at the school for a month now. "Derek!" That call from his friend was driving him nuts.

"Yes, Sam?" He asked and turned around but saw no one. Derek looked the other way and still, he wasn't there. He shook his head to clear his mind before walking off to his classroom. The hallways were merely empty, maybe because he was early. All that was on his mind was sleep. Walking down the hallway he only saw a couple people going off to class or their lockers. Derek brushed his hair out of his eyes.

"Cannabis sativa" Derek whipped around this time quickly but no one was there. 'This can't be happening.' He reassured himself and rubbed his eyes. He opened them and saw Casey infront of him.

"You're never here this-" He stopped seeing that she was see-through. "Get out of my head, get the fuck out of there." Derek spoke to himself and opened his eyes again to see a couple people looking at him. The word fuck went through his head as he ran down the hallway to his classroom. When he was in there, he sat down in a seat with his head down in his arms; which was crossed. He prayed to god that it shouldn't effect him this soon. Closing his eyes, still thinking about it. It was going to be on his mind till the day was over. And he knew that.. until he fell asleep.

---

A book slammed on his desk as hard as possible. He put his head up so fast he fell off of his chair. "Derek." A concerned voice sliced through his mind. A couple of people laughed but stopped after the teacher dashed a look towards them. Derek sighed and rubbed his head, opening his bloodshot eyes. "I'm sending you to the nurses office." The teacher told him, helping Derek up.

"No, no. I'm okay. I'm fine, you see. That didn't hurt. Do you think i'm a girl or something? I'm perfectly fine.." Derek talked quickly as the teacher raised an eyebrow.

"You're right. You're worst, you talk more than them. Now come on. Casey will bring you there." Casey darted her head over after hearing her name.

"He said he was all right! Why do I always have to do it?!" Casey complained. She stopped seeing Derek though, as his expression was blank. It wasn't like him at all. His eyes were bloodshot, and they never were. Something was going on..

"Casey, just do it." The teacher yelled. The complaining was getting on his nerves already, but Casey got up and walked over to Derek. "There. It isn't that bad. So now, class. While their gone let's read chapter 5... quietly by ourselves." He reassured. The class groaned as Derek and Casey walked out.

---

Sitting at the nurses office and waiting for Derek, Casey sat there patiently. A notebook was on her lap and a pen was in her hand. She needed to find out what was going on. Was he over-tired, sick, or.. Casey didn't want to think about it. No, of course not. Derek wasn't on drugs. He would never touch those things. He had better sence than that. Well, not as much as she did. But it was in there somewhere. The doodles on the page made her eyes twitch. Bloodshot eyes, sleepiness, concentration, coordination. That's what she saw today in class. He never used to fall asleep in there anyways. He was always making plans, talking to a girl, or making fun of the teacher. He used to fall asleep before, but that was a few years ago. Something that George has told her. If it wasn't something serious though, the teacher wouldn't have yelled. So there was something big, and Casey was going to find out.

"Casey. We're going to call the hospital. Your step-brother is having troubles with his name. This is serious, so I would like you to go with him." The nurse explained to her. Casey closed the book and hoped up.

"So, where is he?!" Casey quickly spat out. Her face had PANIC written all over it. The nurse pointed over towards a door, that stood among four. Casey would have thought her feet had a mind of it's own if she wasn't thinking about the dangers. He was laying in a bed though, on his side. His face was still blank but other than that he looked normal. "Derek? Are you okay? The nurse is going to call the hospital. I think she told you that already but you never know..." She continued on only to see he wasn't looking at her. This made her nerves worst. Then he closed his eyes. "Derek?" She asked going over to him and touching him. There wasn't an answer, and that's when she blew her top. 


	3. Heros in the dark

Author; I know my chapters are pretty damn short, and pretty quick. The fact is, the program I am using [ NoteTab Light makes it seem like i'm writing like 20 pages. But instead I only wrote about a page. Sorry about that. ;

---

"How is he?" The question played over and over from someone he didn't expect it from. Casey. "Why isn't he moving, or answering?! Tell me what the fuck is going on!" Derek haven't heard her swear before. Hallucinations? He thought so. But no, how can it be when he didn't even open his eyes. Derek couldn't even do that. What he wanted was to see her, how can it be so difficult to do one simple task?

"I don't have an answer for that yet. But what I do have an answer for is what caused him to be like this. Drugs, mainly marijuanna. He had a reaction to it. I don't know how long he's been taking it for, but it's minor right now. Oh, and also, your parents called. They have told me they are coming over shortly." He doctor replied. Derek snapped back into reality after hearing that his parents were coming, and sat up instantly.

"I'm fine, seriously. Can I just go? This is retarded. I'm not on drugs. Just get me the hell out of here!" Derek spoke quickly as he almost got out of the bed, but the doctor and Casey rushed over and tried to push him back on the bed. "Let me go!" Derek screamed and tried to fight back.

"Derek! Just calm down and lay on the bed." Casey ordered as she kept fighting with him. A couple doctors heard the yelling and came in for help. All of them held Derek down as one of them put a needle in his arm. A needle to calm him down.

The doctors kept him down, it would take only a few minutes before it kicked in. Casey didn't let go of the arm she held in place, and neither did the doctors. But they loosened their grips. A couple minutes later, after they felt Derek wasn't going to fight back anymore, they all let go. They all spoke together, talking with the main doctor and telling him if there was anymore trouble, to just call them. They told the same to Casey. She nodded and sat in a chair beside Derek.

"Just let me.." Derek sighed and forgot the thing he was about to say. The rumors were true, needles worked fast in this hospital. His brain stirred, and his eyes were still dark red. A few sobs were heard in the background, but all he could think of was the parents coming. How were they going to take the news? News. The news was on the t.v at the moment but - no. Keep your mind focused, Derek. How- no, what am I going to say? I need an answer, a clue or something. Quickly. Derek procedded the thoughts until he heard the sobbing was still there. Then, he noticed it was Casey who was crying. He directed his eyes towards Casey and sat up. "What's wrong? It's not like you're the one who's going to be in a load of shit."

"Why did you do it in the first place? It's not like.. it's not like you're the one fucked up. There are worst people than you in the world, and you do it because of what? George.. or whoever yells at you for stupid shit? It's your fault for doing that stuff, and then you wonder why in the world they yell at you." Casey explained.

"That's still not answering my question." Derek told her. His mood lowered a lot after hearing her say that, though. Is that how she truly felt..? He messed something up again. If this is how it's going to be then..

"You said you were my hero. But heroes don't do this sort of shit."

-x-

"What're you afraid of?" Derek asked her. Her eyes were swollen because of the crying she did the previous nights. And she was thinking of things much worst then crying. "Casey, tell me." Derek called to her again. He was placed on his knees, watching her cry on her pillow while he was beside her bed. No one was home, and it was the best time that Derek could comfort her. He didn't really like showing anyone his soft side anyways. The question was easy to ask, but he knew the answer would take a while. Maybe a couple hours.. considering how hard she was crying. Derek sighed, and stood up. "If you need me, i'll be in the living room, all right?" There was still no answer, so he turned around. But Casey grabbed his hand.

"Stay here." Casey's head was turned toward him as he turned back around, slowely. "I'm just.. everything's going wrong.. I don't know what to do. I'm failing.. a couple classes that Nora and George don't know about.. I just.. I don't know what's wrong with me.. My mind switched on it's own and.." She cut off, crying again.

"It's okay." Derek reassured as she let go of his hand. "Maybe you need a break from everything?" Derek thought. "You don't draw often, but what I see by the couple drawings on your wall, you're pretty good. Maybe you should draw more often.. write poems.. I don't know. Whatever makes you feel better though. And whatever doesn't, take a break from it. If you need help with homework, just tell Nora and Dad that you're tutoring me. And we could work together in my room."

Casey stopped crying for a moment, thinking about what he said. "Okay." She choked out as Derek smiled. "Derek.. you're more than a big brother. You're.. a hero." Casey told him. Derek looked at her for a second, wanting to say something but his brain was rushing too quickly. Instead, he hugged her.

"Well, is it okay if your hero went to sleep? Because he's tired, and it's 5 am." Derek asked. Getting a nodd back, he turned around going towards the door. "If you ever need me, just open my door.. you don't need to knock." He then walked out of her room.

-x-

Derek swallowed, hard. "I.. uh.. just.." His brain scrambled again. She was still crying, and it was his fault this time. He took her hand, and wiped away a tear from his face. "..See? Even heroes cry sometimes.." 


End file.
